


it was you from the beginning

by happylikeafool



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Day 1, F/F, Fuck Destiny, sqw 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 19:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15802674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happylikeafool/pseuds/happylikeafool
Summary: They meet at a bar and there are instant sparks, just not the kind of sparks that lead to the world flickering from grey to filled with colour.Theyaren'tsoulmates but that doesn't end up much mattering.





	it was you from the beginning

_You made a wish at 11:11_  
_I held your hips at 12:34_  
_There was a kiss just waiting to happen_  
_A cab was calling outside the door_  
_I knew from the beginning  
It was you from the beginning_

__\- Arkells, 11:11__

* * *

 

They meet at a bar and there are instant sparks - just not the kind of sparks that lead to the world suddenly flickering from grey to filled with colour, not the kind of sparks that would mean they are soulmates, meant to be.

 

They are not soulmates, but they flirt, and they dance, and, at the end of the night, they end up together back at Regina's house.

 

It's just supposed to be a fling. The kind of short relationship you have when you _aren't_ soulmates but you _are_ lonely.

 

It's not supposed to mean anything. But it does.

 

xxxxxx

 

“I love you,” Regina says when they've been together three months. She watches Emma freeze, watches green eyes widen, terrified.

 

“But… we aren't…” Emma stammers, unable to completely form the thought out loud. What she is trying to say is clear enough though: _they aren't soulmates_.

 

“I know,” Regina says, barely managing to keep her voice even. “But fuck fate. Because I love you. And that's the only thing that should matter.”

 

“You love me?” Emma repeats like a question, like she hadn’t really heard Regina the first time, like she couldn't possibly believe that it is true.

 

“Of course I love you,” Regina says because _how could she not_? How could she not love Emma who shows up unannounced at her office with lunch, or flowers, or just to say hi at least twice a week, whose eyes absolutely shine when she's smiling at Regina, who tells the worst jokes, who is frustratingly stubborn but in the most endearing of ways.

 

“ _Oh_ ,” Emma says like she still can't believe it.

 

There's a beat, a moment of silence where Regina swears her heart is going to thump right out of her chest, and then-

 

“I love you too.”

 

Emma leans over and kisses Regina as if to prove it.

 

xxxxxx

 

They _love_ each other and there's a giddiness that comes with that, a newness to their three month old relationship that has Regina catching herself grinning at the most inopportune of times.

 

But they are not soulmates and there's a worry that comes with _I love you_ too. That worry seems to cling to Emma, especially - Emma who has spent her whole life feeling like not enough, Emma who has been given back too many times to count.

 

Emma takes to asking questions - they come mostly at night, when it's dark and they're lying beside each other in bed.

 

There's, “Don't you want to meet your soulmate?”

 

“No,” Regina answers firmly to that. “I don't need a soulmate when I have you.”

 

And then there’s, “But what if one day you meet your soulmate anyway?”

 

“Then I'll get to see exactly the shade of green your eyes are when you’re smiling and they’re shining,” is the answer to that one. Regina only knows that Emma's eyes are green because the insufferable roommate Emma had lived with before she moved in with Regina had said so.

 

Emma relaxes after every one of Regina’s answers, burrows her nose in the crook of Regina's neck, and sighs happily. But the questions never really stop coming, not until one night, after months, when, instead of replying, Regina says, “We should get married.”

 

“W-what?” Emma stammers out, and Regina can perfectly picture the way she's frowning, even if it's too dark to see her face.

 

“You keep worrying that when I say _I love you_ , I don't mean _forever_ . And I don't want you to worry anymore,” Regina explains slowly, like this isn't a thing she's been thinking about for weeks, like this isn't a thing she's been working up the nerve to ask. “So, we should get married.” And of course marriage doesn't have to mean _forever_ but it's the most permanence Regina can provide without the ability to make Emma see colour when she looks at her.

 

Emma is silent a long moment and then she says, quiet, so quiet, “I don't want you to marry me because you think you _have_ to.”

 

Regina sighs softly in the dark, runs her hand along Emma's arm. “Emma, we _aren't_ soulmates, there's no part of our relationship that has _ever_ felt like I _have_ to.” And it's true - there's something freeing about not being soulmates and choosing each other anyway.

 

“Oh,” Emma breathes out. “You… you really want to get married?” There's something so hopeful there in her voice.

 

“Yes,” Regina answers, her heart hammering rapidly against her ribcage. “If you want,” she adds, suddenly nervous because, despite the hope there in Emma’s voice, maybe she doesn't _want_ , not the same way that Regina does. The thing is, for all of Emma's questions, Regina has never asked any of her own in return. Has never asked if _Emma_ wants to meet her soulmate, or what _Emma_ would do if she did.

 

Emma leans over and kisses Regina's cheek, her breath tickling against Regina's ear, as she answers, “Of course that’s what I want.” She kisses the corner of Regina's mouth, once, twice, a third time. “Fuck fate”, she adds, an echo of what Regina had once told her. “I don't want a soulmate, I just want _you_.”

 

Regina turns her head and captures Emma's lips in a searing kiss that escalates quickly.

 

xxxxxx

 

It's six months later when Regina broaches the subject of children, hesitant and uncertain because it's a thing they’ve never discussed before.

 

But Emma just laughs happily and kisses Regina and agrees.

 

They decide against adopting a baby, decide on a slightly older child, one who might not otherwise get adopted. It's what feels right for them.

 

The months that follow are busy, filled with excitement and nerves as they prep a room, and complete required parenting courses, and home visits, and interviews, until finally _finally_ the day comes for them to meet the eight year old boy they're hoping will be their son.

 

They wait nervously in his social worker’s office. Regina's hand is clutched tightly with Emma's when the door finally creaks open and the young boy steps into the room. He stops just inside the door, looks up at them with wide, nervous, eyes.

 

“Hi Henry,” Emma is the one to speak first, soft, so soft. “My name is Emma, and this is my wife Regina, and we're so happy to meet you.”

 

“Hi,” Henry whispers, his eyes flickering down to his shoes and then back up at them.

 

“Hello,” Regina smiles at him. “We've been waiting so long to meet you, Henry.”

 

Henry smiles shyly back at them then and Regina’s chest absolutely expands with love, a space in her heart opening up for this boy just like that. Emma squeezes Regina's hand tightly and Regina doesn't need to look over at her to know she feels the same.

 

xxxxxx

 

Henry adjusts to living with them much easier than they thought he would, much easier than they even would have hoped for.

 

He's a sweet boy - kind and curious and intelligent and imaginative. And it somehow feels like he was always meant to be theirs, like a missing puzzle piece that just fits.

 

He's been with them for about three months when it happens. They’re in the kitchen, Emma and Regina are standing at the counter, staring at each other, and then-

 

“ _Moms_!”

 

Regina watches Emma's eyes widen, watches surprise and then delight fill her face. Regina knows her own expression must look much the same. Her heart is thumping loudly in her chest as they turn in unison to look at him.

 

Henry's eyes are wide too, like he's only just really realized what he said, but he sees their smiles and he smiles too, brightly. “Can we go get the pizza now, _please_?”

 

Emma laughs happily. “Yeah, kid, let's go.”

 

xxxxxx

 

They're both still absolutely giddy about it when they're lying beside each other in bed later that night.

 

“Can you believe he called us _moms_?” Emma asks and she sounds almost breathless.

 

Regina grins in the dark, reaches for Emma's hand and pulls it up to her lips, kissing the back of it. “We’re his _moms_ ,” she says, settling Emma's hand on her stomach, their fingers lacing together. “We’re a _family._ ”

 

“Who would have thought that night when we met at that bar that someday we would be _here_?” Emma says, shuffling over a fraction so that she can rest her head on Regina's shoulder.

 

Regina squeezes Emma's hand and thinks of that night, the night they’d locked eyes across a crowded bar and _hadn’t_ seen colour. “I don’t think either of us could have pictured _this_ that night. But that almost makes it… better. We fought for this. We earned it. And I couldn’t be happier.”

 

“Yeah,” Emma agrees softly but then her voice gets more firm. “Fuck fate. Because it’s wrong. I couldn’t possibly have some soulmate out there. Nothing could be more perfect for me than _this_ \- you and Henry and me, together, a family.”

 

“I love you,” Regina says.

 

“I love you,” Emma echoes.

 

xxxxxx

 

Regina wakes the next morning to Emma shaking her shoulder. She grumbles in protest at her sleep being interrupted.

 

“ _Regina_ , wake up,” Emma says, insistent. “Something happened.”

 

That gets Regina to blink her eyes open. “What?” she asks, concerned, sitting up and turning to look at Emma beside her, searching her face for some sign of what might be wrong.

 

Emma is watching her curiously with wide, wonderfilled, green eyes, and Regina freezes - Emma's eyes are _green_. Realization washes over her as her still half-asleep brain catches up - it’s not just Emma’s eyes, the entire room is filled with colour.

 

Emma smiles. “You too?” she asks, and it's so hopeful. “Everything is…” she mimics an explosion with her hands, “Colour.”

 

All Regina is capable of doing is nodding as she stares into Emma's eyes. _Green is a beautiful colour_ , she thinks - she always knew it would be.

 

“How is this possible?” Emma asks, her face still filled with wonder.

 

“I don't know,” Regina says, finding her voice.

 

Emma laughs, high and bright and _happy_ . “I guess fate figured out that it fucked up. We _are_ meant to be together.”

 

Regina laughs too, emotion bubbling up in her chest, and she surges forward and presses her lips to Emma's in a kiss that says more than words ever could.

 

 _Fuck fate_.

 

They _are_ meant for each other. She didn’t actually need a world filled with colour to tell her that though.


End file.
